I'm US citizen. My wife is from Venezuela.
We got married 5 years ago (April 2002) in Alexandria VA, when both of us were students.
For that time she carried a J-1 visa. She went back to Venezuela on dec 2004 to make her 2 years commitment. I stayed on the US for all that time. Since she left to Venezuela she was approved to use a tourist/visitor visa to enter to the US.
We started processing the green card paperwork back on Oct 2006 (we filled out I-130), but we decide to go for the k-3 with the idea to be together sooner and finish the green card process in the US.

My question is: Can she enter with the tourist/visitor visa to the US and stay here (maximun 6 months) until she get approved for the k-3?

We are not planning that she stay illegally in the US. If the Inmigration people approve her for 6 months max for her visit in the US, Are she able to use that time to wait for the k-3?

I will appreciate anyone help!!

Thanks
JR

To answer your question, yes can visit while in process, if the consulate will issue a visitors visa and can demonstrate strong reasons to return home to the consulate, and the POE.

Yes, she is technically allowed to visit if she has a valid visa but "entry to the USA" is entirely up to the officer at the time of entry. When asked for the purpose of the visit, she say, "I'm coming to visit my husband while my K3 visa is being processed." she is likely to be denied entry. If she states a legitimate (truthful) reason for entering the US, like "tourism" or "to visit family and friends", she will have a much greater chance of successful entry.

it is likely that she would be denied entry, even with the tourist visa, because there is an I-130 petition submitted with her name on it. This gives clear "immigrant intent", and overcoming that is difficult, even with an already approved tourist visa.

She can try of course, but she may not want to spend too much money on her airfare. And you may need to consider a trip to Venezuela to visit her instead.

To clarify: You are technically NOT ALLOWED to stay in the US while your paperwork is being processed for the K-3. (My husband and I found this out the hard way.) A tourist visa is for tourists not to 'hang out' with the intent of eventually staying here when your paperwork clears. A distinction the Immigration Officers take very seriously!!

As I have come to learn there are two reasons for this: One, if you are denied a K-3 visa for any reason, it is a lot harder/costly for the US government to deport you rather than just deny you entry in the first place. (That part is a no brainer.)
Second, as a spouse of a USC, there is nothing stopping her from adjusting status once she is in the US. It is a weird loophole in the system that essentially lets you bypass the whole K-3 process, but your spouse has to be in the country first. This is why they are very harsh when it comes to people visiting their spouses in the interim.

If you can manage to convince the Immigrations Officer at the POE that she WILL go back to her country and not stay here then she can 'visit' for the whole length of the tourist visa. (My husband eventually came into the country on a tourist visa but not very easily!) And please know THEY WILL HAVE ALL HER PAPERWORK IN FRONT OF THEM. I can't stress this enough. Do not try to lie about anything. Tell her to say she is visiting family (grey area) not friends. They will get VERY suspicious if they see a I-130 filed and she claims to be visiting people other than you. This could be deemed as misleading and they WILL put her back on the next flight home.

Well, first of all, if the wife left in December of 2004, nearly 2 1/2 years ago, I would imagine she has already visited at least once in all that time, since he said that they were issued a tourist visa while she was in Venezuela. I would expect that once she left to serve her 2 years, they applied for the tourist visa shortly after.

Second, lots of people travel to visit the USA while an application is pending.....people do it on the Visa Waiver....or by using a tourist visa. My wife visited me while she was serving her 2 year home residency and while our I-130 application was being processed. She never had a problem at the POE.

To rosalesmontero.....

The main concern I would have is with the "length" of time you wish for her to stay. 6 months is a long time. My wife never stayed even close to that long when she visited me. So, I would be careful with that.........planning to have her stay until the K-3 is granted.

I don't know if I have ever read of anyone staying that long....while their visa application was processing. Doesn't mean it's never happened.....I just personally can't recall any example from this forum or any other forum, where someone stayed that long.

That's exactly what I meant. I don't know anyone on here that was going to stay for such a long period of time (in my case my husabnd wanted to stay for 2 months on the Visa Waiver Program) without raising eyebrows at the POE.

Of course I realize people come and go with an I-130 in progress. But his intent was clearly for his wife to stay here until the paperwork cleared. You can't do that. (theoretically) The Immigrations Officer made that very clear to us when we were stopped. There's a big difference between 2 weeks here and there and six months!

Yes, since she went back to Venezuela to make her 2 yrs residence commitment, she has visit me in the US 6 times. Three times of that six she stayed for over a month in each visit. I really appreciate all your replys, and we will consider the time that she spent in her next visit. Thanks! JR